Hedgehog vs ZPI

[njbasscat]

At one time, I had Boca ABEC 7's in most of my reels. I eventually removed all of them because I hated the noise and vibration from them. I'm getting ready to clean my Steez 103's which all have their original spool and side plate bearings and am thinking about replacing them with Hedgehog or ZPI bearings. Are either quieter and smoother than Boca 7's? Which is better, Hedgehog or ZPI?

[toddmc]

A good stainless bearing (Hedgehog) will fix this issue. I don't go with small ceramic balls unless I am trying to fish BFS. I greatly dislike noisy bearings also.

[bronzefly]

Both Hedgehog AIR and AIR HD as well as ZPI bearings are superior to BOCA OS 7's in my opinion. The Hedgehog and ZPI options are both premium, top quality and I've been happy with both of them after extensive use. Hedgehog does make a very nice, quiet stainless bearing called the ZR that's really nice for the money as well.

[Aquaftm45]

I have both the ZPI and the HH Air. When I first recieved the HH Air and put them in my Steez A the noise drove me crazy. I immedialty took them out, cleaned them and actually ran them dry (loud, but I could hear them breaking in throught the day) until the oil that I ordered arrived. After applying the light oil (YT Gold Premium) and letting the oil settle in the sound was not overtly noticable and they casted much smoother than when I recieved them stock.
The ZPI noise was less noticable upon install but I went ahead and did the same process as above and there was a noticable improment in both noise reduction and performance.
They pretty much are on par with each other at this point, both in performance and lack of noise. I am very pleased with both.

This is just my experience, I am sure there are others who have more experience with both of these bearings and can compare them to the Boca's.

[Cracker]

I been running my Hedgehog Air as dry for quite a while on most of my reels, and the noise settled down.
If you like to clean bearings in acetone, go with Hedgehog, otherwise ZPI is OK too, actually I cleaned ZPI bearings in acetone for short period of time, and nothing happened to them.
In general I like Hedgehog Air better for finesse and up to 1Oz weights.

[njbasscat]

I went with the Hedgehog ZR. Thanks everyone for your input.

[poisonokie]

I have Airs and Air HDs in a few reels and they're not loud at all. I run them lubricated.

[Chode]

Do both zpi n hh bearings come prelubed?

[SSS]

ZPI, KTF, Kosugi Works and Hedgehog are all superior to the Made In China Abec7's from Boca or whatever other overpriced brand that resell Chinese bearings.

[BRONZEBACK32]

HH and ZPI are both awesome IMO.

Can't go wrong with either....

[Hogsticker2]

When I upgrade, I only use HH Air and Zpi. I only use the airs for my finesse - power finesse reels. If you want general purpose, I'd recommend Zpi. And yeah, much better than Boca imo.